This invention pertains to the anchoring of machines, furniture, cargo and similar objects to lugs in storage areas.
Warehouses, moving vans, buses, railraod cars, cargo planes, and the like which are adapted for storage or transport of cargo generally have tie-down studs or anchor bolts in their floors and walls. These studs are intended for attachment of some type of grappling hook or ring which serve as tie-down fittings for ropes, straps, and other cables which hold the cargo in place. In order that cargo may slide across the floors or walls without interference the tie-down studs are mounted in recesses so that they do not extend beyond the floor or wall surface. The grappling hooks are attached later where required.
Whereas it is desirable to have tie-down studs flush with the floor or wall surface they are not particularly suitable for attaching seats or berths when transporting personnel or for securing pallets when pallets carry the cargo. Some other locking device which is both rigid and removable is required. Tie-down fittings which might be adapted for securing such objects as pallets and seats to tie-down studs are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,448,817, 2,427,681 and 326,470. These two connecting devices employ hook means which latch on, or register with, the stud head. A sleeve holds the hooks under the stud head, and the hooks are carried by a cylindrical fastening device body. These two connecting devices have the disadvantage that the cylindrical top portion of the device must be adapted to hold the object or the object must be adapted to fit the body of the fastening device. As described the seats are provided with tubular legs which fit over the cylindrical top of the fastening device. A bolt passes through both the leg and the cylindrical top to hold the seat in place.
A tie-down assembly is provided herein which makes an upwardly extending bolt available for attachment of a variety of objects.